LiBSU - Redesigning the "Battery Support Unit" to Support Lithium

I agree that this is very unlikely to ever happen. Thanks for digging into the weeds so I don't have to. LiBSU is intended for use in vehicles originally containing Toyota's mass-market NiMH Blade modules.

...

After several months, I finally got some sample BMS ICs. I had to sign an NDA to even get the datasheet. I don't understand why the (new) manufacturer requires such secrecy. They acquired the core technology by purchasing another existing company. They still sell the existing part numbers under the old company's brand without an NDA. However, their newer generation parts are under NDA, even though they're almost entirely identical. My NDA prevents me from even outlining the differences between parts. In the image below, I've even obscured the IC package markings to comply with the NDA.

So then today I finally jumped through the hoops and received a few sample NDA parts...
...and the footprint is different from the footprint in the NDA datasheet!
It's supposed to be LQFP, but instead it's LFCSP. In case you don't know the difference:
-LQFP is 10x10 mm and has real, physical pins that you can solder to, whereas;
-LFCSP is 7x7 mm and doesn't have pins, and is basically a chip-scale encapsulated die with bottom-mounted gold pads.

It turns out they offer the part in both packages, but the NDA datasheet they sent me was for LQFP, whereas the parts they sent are LFCSP.

For bringup testing (on just this one board), I was just barely able to kludge the 7x7 part onto the PCB's 10x10 pads:

I have no idea if the pinouts are the same; haven't powered up the board yet. If they're different, I'll probably end up letting the magic smoke out. Wish me luck!

Hoping I don't have to wait several more months to obtain the LQFP part. NDA parts are annoying.